Mark Cheyne: Still sandblasting, still painting

For many sign makers, seeing a sandblasted sign was a turning point in their work and their business. It was for Mark Chenye, who after being involved in flat painted signs in the early ’80s, was taken by the dimension and texture of sandblasted redwood signs. We’ll let him tell you the story:

Getting a start: I went to college for art, but didn’t do much with that after I graduated. I worked in home improvement then did some logging out west with my brother. When I came back for the holidays, my mother had set up an interview for me with a friend who owned a sign company. It was a small company with three or four employees and they hired me.

That was 1983 so most of the work was hand lettering. The Gerber Signmaker was still fairly new and most signs were done with paint. A bit later I saw some sandblasted signs locally and got really interested in that. I have always done wildlife paintings and had a booth to sell them at several wildlife art shows. I had a sandblasted sign for my booth, and the sign was getting attention—sometimes more than my paintings.

I started bringing a few 3D signs with hand-painted illustrations to the shows and taking orders. That led to working on my own doing this type of sign work. By the early ’90s I had three people working with me, and we were doing a lot of custom sandblasted wood signs.

His market: We’re northwest of Baltimore and about an hour from the DC beltway area. There are a lot of suburban neighborhoods around us, and I’ve done a lot of entry signage for those. Westminster is a small rural town and I have done several hundred farm signs, as well as very many vacation property signs. I do some truck lettering in computer cut vinyl, but never invested in the digital printer, as there are quite a few other sign companies doing that already.

Blasted and carved and some vinyl: But I’m known for the 3D work so that’s my niche. I do a lot of painted illustrations and people like that. This type of sign is not for everyone—they’re not cheap. I started out using clear redwood and had to move to western red cedar because redwood disappeared. I used to buy clear heart vertical grain for $13 a lineal foot for 2x12s. Now I pay $35 per foot for western red cedar, which is also a very durable wood.

I’ve always focused on using my painting and illustration skills to sell my work. 90% of the signs I do are from my layouts. The layouts are usually clean and not too complicated because most folks are budget-conscious. Most of the customers get a hand-drawn sketch then we go from there.

I have a Quincy air compressor that I’ve had for 30 years, and a sandblast pot. I built a sandblast booth that lets me handle a sign up to 4×8. It’s all self-contained, which is much nicer in the winter.

I outsource my CNC routed work. My supplier, Harbor Sales, also does CNC routing, so I order the material from them and send them a design file. The sign arrives in a box, ready to paint. It’s really convenient. If there’s a carved illustration, I do that all by hand and usually out of HDU.

December is usually pretty busy for me. I typically do about 15 residence signs that folks want to give as Christmas gifts—though I’ve done as many as 35 some years.

Restoring wood signs: I have signs out 25 or 30 years that I’ve brought back in the shop, hosed them off, given them the mildew bath, repaint them and send them back out. The wood is still in great shape, the paint has just taken a beating in the weather. I do a fair amount of sign restoration because there are many wood signs out there with finishes that are failing. Some of them are mine, and some were made by others over the years. I have a page on my website that tells that I offer that service and shows some before-and-afters.

What’s ahead: I’ve worked alone the past 5 years, just like I did during the first five years. It’s been a good five years, with less stress than when more employees were involved—though sometimes you miss someone to joke around with.

I’m ready to slow it down a bit. Meg, my wife, taught school for years and just retired. We have a daughter and son who live within a few hours so we plan on staying around here. We also have a small camper, and we like to get away in that about one weekend a month.

I don’t have a firm exit strategy yet, and it takes time to find the right person to take over your business. Hopefully I’ll find someone within the next year who wants to do that. It’s a good opportunity for the right person.

I’m not rich, but I like what I do. I have always enjoyed the work and am proud of what I’ve put out there. I feel that I’ve turned out some really high quality wood signs that my customers appreciate for years. It’s been a very satisfying 36-year run!

Mark ordered and handled the gold leaf convex lettering and illustration on this prefab monument from Peachtree Foamcraft.

Mark does a lot of sign restoration, as he did on Bluebird Hills and Fannie Ridge.